Postgame Quotes - February 4, 2012

Pistons vs Hornets

(On Brandon Knight's status) "He has a broken nose and they'll have to reset it and get fit for a mask. Hopefully, by Tuesday we'll have him back at practice. It is unfortunate for him, but thankfully he'll be okay."

(On Walker Russell) "Walker held the fort. Especially after his initial run the first time out he picked up Squeaky (Carldell) Johnson and it was like they were having a D-League matchup there. Squeaky was getting in the paint and Walker picked it up. It is great when you have guys step in and give you almost 33 minutes of play. To play with that fight, spirit and heart; Walker did very well."

(On team resolve): "That is what we talked about in the locker room after the game was just the spirit and fight. Seventh game in nine nights, back-to-back go down short handed again with your starting point guard out. Instead of saying, ‘Oh man here we go again’, there was fight. I thought Jason Maxiell embodied what the effort was about; his tenacity, effort, and toughness. I'm not sure what Moose (Greg Monroe) finished with for offensive rebounds, six, I would bet that three of them were the result of Max keeping balls alive and then to get the big dunk was a momentum play. It was a grind, we knew it was going to be a grind. As we talked about before the game, they (Hornets) are a hard-playing team. Just the circumstances and you throw in that Brandon (Knight) goes down. We stayed the course. We hung with it, stayed with it and it is good to see that sort of fight."

(On pushing the ball) "Oh yeah. That is what we are trying. For us it is going to take time. The identity we want is a defense-first team that plays up-tempo attack basketball. Obviously, we have a long ways to go, but that doesn't mean you don't every day try to implement what you're trying to get done."

(On play tonight): "Just trying to play solid. (A) Lot of stuff doesn't get ran for me, so when I do get that opportunity to score, I've got to put it in the basket. But I'm just out there trying to play good defense and make my team better."

(On Brandon Knight going out and him stepping in): "Usually I'm the guy that was always playing, but I've been playing more and more lately, so when coach called my number, he had the confidence in me and I had the confidence to step up and play."

(On playing previously to the injury): "Definitely, that helped me. Now I can go out there and I can play freely, guys still looking for me and guys telling me, ‘Hey Walk, it's your show, your keys now.’ I can appreciate that and it boosts my confidence even more."

(On rebounding): "It's more or less effort; that's basically it. That's what everybody preaches, effort and position. That's something I take pride in, so what you see on the court is just me working hard, trying to do my job."

(On starting alongside Jason Maxiell): "Max is going to bring that toughness, that intensity, he's going to rebound, he's going to play defense, he's a big help. He's a good scorer and he's a good rebounder, so he helps me a lot."

(On back-to-back wins): "It's good, especially to come back home and get in front of the home crowd. We definitely needed those two wins. It was a maximum team effort. We played a whole game, we played 48 minutes both games. We just have to continue to do that night in and night out."

(On Brandon Knight going out): "You know Brandon's a big part of what we do, but Walker D. (Russell) and Rodney (Stuckey) moving back to the point more, definitely stepped up tonight and everybody else that got into the game. Everybody stepped up tonight. It was a tough night, but everybody had a crazy amount of energy for the schedule that we just went through and I have to applaud my teammates, they did a great job tonight."

(On injuries): "Right now, I think that Carl (Landry) is listed as a possible knee strain. Jason (Smith) possible for a concussion. It’s positive that Carl has a knee strain and Jason may have a concussion."

(On rebounding): "They were a beast tonight on the offensive boards. I think they had 15 and the last one from Maxiell with the dunk; that kind of summed up the night for us. I thought our intensity in the second and third quarters were soft and they took advantage of it. Our guys looked tired tonight which was something that I did not expect from the group that prides itself on playing hard and having energy."

(On fatigue): "Well, this is the dog days of the NBA right now. A lot of players are kind of going through the motions and tired and we certainly looked that way tonight. I thought we'd be a bit fresher because I gave them the day off yesterday and maybe that hurt us."

(On teams game play): "A lot of it is mental because of the long season but tonight it was physical. I thought we made some bad turnovers down the stretch. In really critical times we turned the ball over and gave them layups. They were scoring off of our turnovers. I think we took some bad shots down the stretch. We didn't need to cast up threes but that happens. I love the intention, just not the execution."

(On Loss) “You’ve got to give them credit; they played harder at the end. Once again we are still breaking down in the fourth. Some key turnovers and then they out-rebounded us on the offensive end. They got like 12 or 14 offensive rebounds that were key at some points, especially at the end."

(On the fourth quarter): "I wish I could give you a straight up answer but I think that's the biggest weakness of this team, breaking down when we are in tough times. I got a turnover in a key moment and the following play we had another turnover. Right there, two possessions we didn't get a shot off. That could be the game right there and then they come down and they score you give them more confidence. You have to give them credit, they played harder than us."